Denver City Council members next month will consider repealing a 2008 initiative passed by voters that was intended to impound vehicles driven by “illegal aliens.”

Denver has never enforced the immigration portion of Initiative 100 because of potential civil rights lawsuits. But unlicensed drivers who have their cars towed under the law must pay about $2,600 in bonds and fees in addition to the towing and impound costs to retrieve their vehicles.

That is patently unfair, said Councilman Paul Lopez, who is pushing to repeal the initiative.

“The collateral damage that this law created is huge,” Lopez said. “There is no process for someone to prove their innocence. . . . And it’s ridiculous to think that getting your car out of the impound is equal to one month’s pay.”

On Monday, the council approved the first stage of the repeal, setting a July 11 date for the final vote after a public hearing.

Lopez in April 2010 pushed for a repeal but backed off, agreeing with then-Mayor John Hickenlooper that the decision should be made by voters.

Lopez has changed his stance, saying the council has the authority to change the law and that asking taxpayers to pay for an election is unnecessary.

The initiative’s backer, Dan Hayes of Jefferson County, said the council should honor the voters’ intent.

“The voters passed it,” he said. “It’s an abuse of power. This is just unheard of. They didn’t have the guts to do it before the election. Now they are all elected, and now they are going to repeal it. They are cowards.”

Denver’s charter makes it possible for the City Council to repeal laws, even those approved by voters, with support from a supermajority, or two-thirds of the 13-member council.

Two council members have voiced opposition to repealing the measure — Charlie Brown and Jeanne Faatz.

“The people of Denver voted for it,” Faatz said. “I am not convinced that it is broken.”

Initiative 100 passed in August 2008 by a 4,163-vote margin, but critics say that the text of the actual law was confusing and misleading.

The city attorney’s office said Denver law enforcement officials couldn’t enforce the immigration portion on the threat of certain litigation.

The law also didn’t require officers to impound vehicles operated by unlicensed drivers. It merely stated they had that authority, which already had been written into city law for years.

The initiative forces people seeking to get their cars out of the impound lot to put up a $2,500 bond that will be refunded if they prevent an unlicensed driver from operating the vehicle for a year. They also must pay a $100 land-acquisition fee that was added to help the city buy additional property for impounding vehicles.

A year after his I-100 was passed, Hayes offered Initiative 300, which would require officers to impound the vehicles. That initiative failed with nearly 70 percent of voters casting “no” votes.

Hayes said it was defeated because voters were misled to believe that anyone who forgot his license would see his vehicle impounded.

Denver officials say that in the first three months after the law went into affect, authorities impounded so many vehicles that the lots filled up and the Sheriff’s Office for the first time had to go on “emergency tow status” — meaning that only vehicles considered evidence in a felony crime could be impounded.

In 2009, Denver budget officials estimated the city lost about $340,000 on the impound program because fewer cars were being towed and because of costs to implement the program.

Jeremy P. Meyer was a reporter and editorial writer with The Denver Post until 2016. He worked at a variety of weeklies in Washington state before going to the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin as sports writer and then copy editor. He moved to the Yakima Herald-Republic as a feature writer, then to The Gazette in Colorado Springs as news reporter before landing at The Post. He covered Aurora, the environment, K-12 education, Denver city hall and eventually moved to the editorial page as a writer and columnist.

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